Scouting for Growth

Prof Gianvito Lanzolla: Strategy in the World of Data and AI

AI is changing the economics of business. But it is not rewriting the fundamentals of strategy. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, I sit down with Professor Gianvito Lanzolla, Professor of Strategy at Bayes Business School, advisor to boards and CEOs, and co-author of Diversification in the World of Data and AI, to examine what actually creates competitive advantage when access to intelligence is rapidly becoming ubiquitous. The uncomfortable truth is that better technology alone does not create a better strategy. Being early to AI can accelerate learning, but scaling before you understand how the technology creates value, how the organization captures that value, and what customer problem it solves can simply mean buying expensive learning. Gianvito makes an important distinction between being early for learning and being early for scaling. We then explore why data in context matters more than data volume. Tesla's understanding of driving behavior can translate naturally into insurance because the data is relevant to risk. Tesco's knowledge of what customers buy did not automatically reveal what they wanted to watch. The strategic question is not how much data you hold, but what the data describes, how it was generated, and which decisions it can improve. That same discipline applies to diversification and governance. Companies still need a credible right to win, supported by continuous data in context, domain expertise, and the ability to orchestrate an ecosystem. And as AI increasingly influences or makes decisions, governance cannot remain a sequence of static gates. Gianvito argues for adaptive governance built around monitoring, feedback loops, escalation mechanisms, and the ability to revisit decisions as the technology evolves. Most importantly, the conversation brings strategy back to fundamentals. If AI ultimately becomes more like electricity than a source of differentiation in itself, advantage will come from the business model built around it. Gianvito leaves leaders with three questions: Value, Visibility, and Viability. What new customer problem can you solve? What can you see or do now that was previously impossible? And what can you organize and execute economically today that you could not before? Because AI may change the context, the economics, and even the architecture of decision-making. But competitive advantage still depends on understanding where value is created, why you have the right to capture it, and how you build an organization capable of doing so. KEY TAKEAWAYS I want to challenge the assumption that moving first on AI automatically creates an advantage. Gianvito's distinction between being early for learning and early for scaling is particularly important. Organizations should experiment early because they need to build the capacity to understand and implement the technology. Scaling is different. That decision requires a credible hypothesis about the business model: how does AI create value, how will the company capture it, and what becomes possible economically that was not possible before? Access to increasingly powerful models will spread. The differentiation comes from what the organization builds around them. This is also why the conversation around data needs to become more precise. It is not enough to say that a company has enormous amounts of data. What matters is data in context: what the data describes, how it was generated, and which decisions it can inform. Gianvito identifies three capabilities behind AI-enabled diversification: generating a continuous flow of relevant data, combining AI with domain expertise, and orchestrating the ecosystem required to deliver the proposition. Even then, traditional strategic questions remain. Do you genuinely know something your competitors do not? Do you have a right to win? And is the opportunity economically large enough to justify pursuing? For me, the governance implications are just as significant. As AI evolves and takes on greater decision authority, we cannot govern it solely through fixed approval gates designed for relatively stable technologies. Governance itself needs feedback loops, monitoring, escalation, and the ability to revisit decisions. The same principle matters for founders selling into enterprises: do not lead with how much AI sits inside the product. Lead with the bottleneck you remove and the outcome you enable. As operational activities become easier to automate, validation and trust may become increasingly scarce sources of value. The strategic question remains remarkably familiar: what customer problem can you solve, what can you now see or do, and can you execute it in a way that is economically viable? BEST MOMENTS “First mover advantage or advantages, they've never been about being first.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [06:48] “I would separate early for learning from early for scaling.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [09:13] “It's not data, it's data in context.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [22:06] “There is a conceptual shift from governance as gates to governance as a continuous learning system.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [43:25] “Access to AI is not a competitive advantage in itself.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [01:02:41] “AI strategy doesn't start with AI, starts with the three V, value, visibility, viability.” – Professor Gianvito Lanzolla [01:05:44] ABOUT THE GUEST Professor Gianvito Lanzolla is Professor of Strategy at Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London, Founding Director of the Digital Leadership Research Center, and an advisor to boards and CEOs. Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Gianvito's work has evolved around a fundamental question: if technology matters but is not enough, what else determines who creates and captures value? His research and advisory work spans strategy, digital transformation, AI, diversification, business models, governance, and organizational change. He is co-author, with Constantinos Markides, of Diversification in the World of Data and AI and has researched how organizations can scale AI through adaptive governance. His work connects enduring principles of strategy with the rapidly changing economics of data, AI, and digitally orchestrated ecosystems. You can buy the book on Amazon wherever you are in the world: Diversification in the World of Data and AI ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you're interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Agentic Distribution: AI Can Find the Customer. Can You Keep Them?

Discovery is becoming abundant. Customer ownership is not. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, I go inside the Distribution Intelligence Layer and examine what happens when AI assistants become a new front door to the market. Customers can increasingly discover products, compare options, generate quotes, and decide what to do next before they ever reach a company website. The strategic question is no longer simply how they find you. It is what happens to the relationship when they arrive. The uncomfortable truth is that AI may not remove the broker. It may remove the search box and relocate the customer's first interaction into an interface the enterprise does not control. As search, comparison, form-filling, and routine administration become cheaper, value moves downstream toward advice, trust, complex judgement, service, and renewal. Walmart shows what this shift looks like when an enterprise treats agentic distribution as an operating model rather than a chatbot. Aviva and Plymouth Rock show the same logic beginning to emerge in insurance, using ChatGPT as part of the discovery and quotation journey while connecting customers back into enterprise systems. The visible assistant is only the shop window. Behind it must sit product data, identity, payments, service, governance, and accountability. I frame the Distribution Intelligence Layer around three essential jobs: be found, be buyable, and be remembered. Product information must be accurate enough for an assistant to understand. Secure connections must allow quotation, purchase, and service. And when the customer moves into the enterprise journey, their details, permissions, context, and choices need to move with them. The hand-off determines whether the organization simply receives a transaction or begins a relationship it can continue through service and renewal. Most importantly, I leave leaders with three practical moves: try to buy your own product through an AI assistant, make one product AI-ready from discovery through service, and map the complete hand-off from the customer's first question to renewal. Because being found creates an introduction. The real commercial advantage lies in receiving the customer, serving them, and earning the right to keep the relationship. KEY TAKEAWAYS I want to challenge the idea that agentic distribution is simply another digital channel. When an AI assistant can understand the customer's problem, narrow the available choices, and send the business a customer with stronger intent, it begins to change where the market starts. Discovery becomes cheaper, and some of the value historically attached to search, comparison, form-filling, and administration moves elsewhere. This is why I do not believe the broker simply disappears. The broker's value moves downstream toward advice, trust, judgement, and ongoing service. This is why I frame the Distribution Intelligence Layer around three jobs: be found, be buyable, and be remembered. Discovery is only the first leg of the journey. The hand-off into the enterprise must carry customer data, identity, permissions, consent, context, and choices while connecting securely to payment, service, auditability, human accountability, and renewal. The distinction is important because customer ownership is not automatically surrendered to the platform. It is shaped by how the journey is designed and by who controls what happens after the introduction. For me, the practical implication is that leaders should stop debating this shift in the abstract and experience the journey themselves. Try to buy your own product through an AI assistant. Make one product AI-ready from discovery through service rather than attempting to transform the entire portfolio at once. Then draw the complete hand-off and identify who owns the data, identity, payment, service, renewal, and next conversation at every stage. For founders, the same test applies: an impressive interface is not enough unless it can connect securely into a real enterprise journey. The strategic prize is not simply access to the transaction. It is continuity of the customer relationship. BEST MOMENTS “That is not simply a new channel. It is a new front door to the market.” – Sabine VanderLinden [00:53] “The broker does not vanish. The broker's value moves downstream.” – Sabine VanderLinden [04:01] “For founders, the clever assistant is no longer enough. The product must connect to real systems, respect permissions, leave an audit trail, and help the client keep the customer.” – Sabine VanderLinden [05:26] “It is important to note that customer ownership is not automatically lost to the platform. It is a design and commercial decision in the end.” – Sabine VanderLinden [09:02] “Think of a relay race. The assistant runs the first leg. Your firm runs the second. The customer data and trust are the baton.” – Sabine VanderLinden [09:54] “Being found is useful. Keeping the customer in the end is the business model.” – Sabine VanderLinden [13:37] ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you're interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

The Enterprise Intelligence Stack: Why Four Excellent Tools Produce Nothing

Four excellent tools can still produce nothing. Intelligence only creates value when it connects, compounds, and scales. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, I introduce the Enterprise Intelligence Stack, a practical framework for understanding why promising agentic pilots stall, why different AI agents can operate with completely different views of the same customer, and why the third pilot can end up costing as much as the first. The uncomfortable truth is that most enterprises are not suffering from a lack of capability. They are suffering from a lack of composition. Data, models, platforms, people, and governance may all exist, but they rarely operate as one coherent system. The result is fragmented intelligence, duplicated infrastructure, weak accountability, and pilots that work beautifully in isolation but struggle to scale. I break the Enterprise Intelligence Stack into four layers and two rails: Data and Judgment; Models and Orchestration; Distribution and Access; Customer and Experience; supported by the People and Trust rails. I then introduce a four-part Composition Test built around one shared source of truth, one registry, one audit trail, and one accountable human. Most importantly, I leave leaders with three practical moves: draw the stack, run the Composition Test, and fund the rails before funding the next layer. Because in the age of agents, the winners will not necessarily be the firms with the most intelligence. They will be the ones whose intelligence connects, compounds, and scales. KEY TAKEAWAYS I want to challenge the way we continue to diagnose enterprise AI problems. We often blame procurement, technology, models, talent, or adoption when an agentic pilot fails to scale. But increasingly, I believe the real constraint is composition. We may already own many of the capabilities we need, but they are not working together as one system. Four excellent tools can still produce nothing if they operate from different data, different logs, different governance models, and different assumptions about the customer. This is why I introduce the Enterprise Intelligence Stack: four layers covering Data and Judgment, Models and Orchestration, Distribution and Access, and Customer and Experience, supported by the People and Trust rails that have to run through the entire system. The distinction is important because layers can be purchased, whereas rails must be designed and governed by the organization itself. The Composition Test then gives us a practical way to challenge every new initiative: is there one shared source of truth, one registry, one audit trail, and one accountable human? For me, the biggest takeaway is that we need to stop asking simply, “What should we buy next?” and start asking, “How will this connect to what we already have?” Whether you are an enterprise leader or an AI venture selling into one, the objective is the same: build intelligence that can connect, compound, and scale. The next move is not necessarily another purchase. It may simply be to draw the stack and understand what you actually own. BEST MOMENTS “It is not a tooling problem. It is a composition problem.” – Sabine VanderLinden [00:16] “The real failure is that the capabilities we already own don't work together.” – Sabine VanderLinden [00:16] “A firm can use four suppliers and still have one shared spine. It can also use one supplier and end up with four disconnected systems.” – Sabine VanderLinden [08:00] “Enterprise buyers do not need another brilliant soloist. They need a venture that can join the orchestra.” – Sabine VanderLinden [08:00] “A pilot or product integration that can't connect to the wider system is a cost, not an option.” – Sabine VanderLinden [10:00] “Do you have a stack or do you have a shopping list?” – Sabine VanderLinden [14:00] ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Kevin Maney: The Category Creation Formula for Winning Markets in the AI Era

Kevin Maney: The Category Creation Formula for Winning Markets in the AI Era AI is making products easier to build, but meaningful differentiation harder to sustain. A stronger feature set, a faster model, or simply adding an “AI-powered” label may not be enough to convince customers that a new market should exist in the first place. Kevin Maney, bestselling author, technology commentator, and founding partner of Category Design Advisors, joins me to unpack the Category Creation Formula: Context + Missing + Innovation = New Market Category. Developed through nearly a decade of fieldwork with more than 50 companies, the framework offers a practical way to understand when markets are ready to change: identify what has shifted around the customer, uncover the newly urgent need that shift creates, and then design the innovation the market is ready to embrace. Our conversation moves beyond conventional product-market fit toward a more fundamental question: What would market-product fit look like? We explore why being first matters less than establishing the accepted dominant design, why competitors can actually validate rather than weaken a new category, and why successful category creation starts outside the organization, not with the technology already sitting inside it. In an era of AI abundance, compressed innovation cycles, and increasingly crowded markets, this conversation offers a different way to think about growth. It is particularly relevant for CEOs, transformation leaders, investors, and founders asking not simply how to build a better product, but how to create a market that wants it. KEY TAKEAWAYS What I found particularly compelling in this conversation with Kevin is his challenge to one of the most deeply embedded assumptions in innovation: that we should build a product and then find its market. Kevin turns that logic around with the idea of market-product fit. Instead of starting with what our technology can do, we should start by understanding what has changed in the world around our customers, what new problem that change has created, and what innovation could solve it. His Category Creation Formula, Context + Missing + Innovation, gives leaders a simple but powerful way to make that shift. I also loved Kevin’s perspective on category leadership. Being first is not necessarily the objective. The real goal is to establish the dominant design that shapes how customers understand and expect the category to work. And, counterintuitively, competition can help because other players entering the market validate the category in customers’ minds. For me, this is a particularly important lesson in today’s crowded AI landscape. Finally, Kevin makes a distinction I think every leader should consider: using AI to make the existing business more efficient is only one side of the opportunity. The bigger question is what entirely new products, services, and ways of operating become possible because AI has changed the context. As AI itself becomes foundational and ubiquitous, the differentiator will increasingly be what humans do with it, and the ideas they create about what comes next. BEST MOMENTS “Category design is a strategy. And when I think of positioning and marketing, those are things that a company does.” – Kevin Maney [13:52] “Product-market fit has led a lot of people to think we'll build this product and figure out a market to put it into. And we talked about it, saying, like, it's actually market-product fit.” – Kevin Maney [25:00] “Your ultimate goal is to win the dominant design. It's not to be the day one, first mover, be the first one to say, ‘We're creating this category.’” – Kevin Maney [29:57] “Your goal is not to wipe out all competition, your goal is to be the dominant design and make all of your competitors follow you.” – Kevin Maney [29:57] “I actually believe that the big AI models... that's going to become, at some point, as boring as the internet or as electricity. What excites me is what you can do with it.” – Kevin Maney [37:26] “AI is trained on the past, and it's only going to understand the past, and it's going to be the humans that create the future.” – Kevin Maney [49:19] ABOUT THE GUEST Kevin Maney is a bestselling author, award-winning technology commentator, and founding partner of Category Design Advisors. He is the co-author of The Category Creation Formula and Play Bigger, and spent 22 years as a technology journalist at USA Today. His work has also appeared in publications including Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, and Wired. Kevin helps leadership teams identify, define, and develop new market categories. Through nearly a decade of category-design work with more than 50 companies, his focus has included market-product fit, dominant design, the adjacent possible, strategic points of view, and the leadership alignment required to translate innovation into an understood and adopted market choice. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Denise Garth: The Frontier Insurer, One Year In

Denise Garth: The Frontier Insurer, One Year In Denise Garth returns to Scouting for Growth one year after the Frontier Firm idea began to move from a strategic aspiration into insurer operating models, technology roadmaps, and boardroom priorities. As Chief Strategy Officer at Majesco, Denise offers a sharper test for the Frontier Insurer: Is the organization simply using AI? Is it redesigning selected processes around AI? Or is it rebuilding the enterprise around intelligence, connecting its data, core platforms, people, partners, and decisions? Only the third represents genuine transformation. The uncomfortable truth is that most carriers now have AI enthusiasm, pilots, and isolated productivity gains. Far fewer have the intelligent core, embedded governance, and human-agent operating model required to scale them. Majesco’s research captures the disconnect: 82% of insurance leaders believe AI will define the industry’s future, yet only 14% have integrated it into their operations. Sabine and Denise explore what has changed over the past twelve months, why intelligent orchestration now matters more than another point solution, and how insurers can move from experimentation towards a genuinely redefined operating model. The conversation is for insurance CEOs, COOs, CROs, CDOs, transformation leaders, and technology founders navigating the move from AI experimentation to an intelligent, governable operating model. KEY TAKEAWAYS One year on, I see the conversation around AI in insurance moving from “What is this technology?” to a much more consequential question: “What does this mean for the business?” The 82%-14% gap tells us that the challenge is no longer access to technology. It is leadership. Most insurers are experimenting, but experimentation alone will not create a Frontier Insurer. The real opportunity is to rethink the business around the outcomes we want to create for customers, employees, and shareholders. I also believe we need to stop thinking about AI as something we bolt onto existing workflows. The Frontier Insurer embeds intelligence into its core, connects high-quality, accessible data with workflows and agents, and builds governance and auditability into its architecture. This changes what people actually do. Claims professionals can move from repetitive adjustment towards risk reduction and customer empathy; underwriters can become more focused on portfolio management and judgment; and employees can spend more time on knowledge-based work rather than manual processing. The biggest shift, however, is towards orchestration. I am increasingly convinced that the winners will not be the insurers with the most AI pilots or the biggest AI budgets. They will be the organizations that can bring together intelligence, governance, and core systems into a coherent operating model, while building trust along the way. Becoming a Frontier Insurer means being bold enough to rethink organizational structures, jobs, processes, technology partnerships, and ultimately the economics of insurance. The question is no longer whether AI will change insurance. It is whether leaders are prepared to redesign their businesses around it. BEST MOMENTS “Every insurer in 2026 will tell you that they are doing AI. Ask your harder question. Who has rebuilt the business or operating model around it?” – Sabine VanderLinden [00:16] “The gap isn't a technology story. It is a leadership story.” – Sabine VanderLinden [00:16] “It isn't about cutting people. It's about elevating them.” – Denise Garth [14:49] “It is about a rip and replace of business capabilities and the operating model.” – Denise Garth [43:34] “Somebody else is going to jump ahead of you because they're going to look at it from an orchestration standpoint and rethink.” – Denise Garth [38:19] “Redefined their operating model and embraced AI in a way that accelerated that redefinition of the operating model.” – Denise Garth [95:10] ABOUT THE GUEST Denise Garth is Chief Strategy Officer at Majesco, where she leads strategy, marketing, industry relations, and innovation in support of the company’s client-centric vision. She works closely with insurers, technology partners and the wider industry ecosystem to identify emerging shifts and translate them into practical priorities for property and casualty, life, annuity and benefits organizations. An internationally recognized insurance and InsurTech thinker, Denise focuses on the forces reshaping the industry—from AI, data, and intelligent core platforms to new operating models, changing customer expectations, and ecosystem-based growth. Her work challenges insurers to move beyond incremental modernization and build organizations capable of learning, adapting, and delivering value continuously. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Bárbara Fernández: Human-Agent Collaboration, Agentic AI, and the Rise of the Human Boss

Bárbara Fernández: Human-Agent Collaboration, Agentic AI, and the Rise of the Human Boss The future of work will not be won by humans who move faster. It will be shaped by humans who know how to orchestrate intelligence. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Bárbara Fernández, Deputy Director of MAPFRE Open Innovation and Head of insur_space, to explore one of the defining leadership questions of the agentic AI era: what happens when humans stop doing every task and start directing systems of intelligence instead? As AI assistants evolve into autonomous collaborators, work is no longer simply about increasing productivity. It is about preserving judgment, accountability, and human agency while learning how to collaborate with increasingly capable machines. Together, Sabine and Bárbara examine where the line sits between augmentation and abdication, why convenience can quietly erode critical thinking, and how organizations must rethink trust, behavioral design and customer interaction as AI becomes embedded into everyday decision-making. They also explore what insurance looks like when protection becomes predictive, contextual, and continuously present. This conversation is essential listening for insurers, transformation leaders, AI strategists and executives preparing their organizations for the next era of human-agent collaboration. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the most important lessons from this conversation is that the future of work is not about competing with AI but learning how to direct it responsibly. As intelligent agents become increasingly capable of reasoning, coordinating, and executing tasks, our value shifts from producing outputs ourselves to asking better questions, challenging assumptions, and exercising sound judgment. Critical thinking is becoming one of the most valuable leadership capabilities we can develop. Bárbara also reminded me that the greatest risk is not artificial intelligence itself but our willingness to stop questioning it. Humans naturally gravitate towards convenience, and AI makes it remarkably easy to accept recommendations without scrutiny. If we allow productivity to replace thoughtful decision-making, we risk automating poor judgment rather than improving it. Human oversight must remain an active discipline, not a passive checkpoint. Our discussion also highlighted how customer interaction will fundamentally change as AI agents begin acting on behalf of individuals. Behavioral science, user experience, and trust must evolve beyond designing for human interfaces alone. Organizations will increasingly need to design services that are understandable to both humans and intelligent agents while maintaining transparency and accountability throughout every interaction. Ultimately, this conversation reinforced that technology will not replace what makes us uniquely human. As intelligence becomes abundant and inexpensive, empathy, emotional understanding, curiosity, and ethical judgment become even more valuable. The leaders who thrive will be those who know when to rely on AI—and when human presence is irreplaceable. BEST MOMENTS "We need to really stop and think and evaluate what the machine is saying to us." – Bárbara Fernández "We need to train critical thinking." – Bárbara Fernández "If something is making your day easier—I don't know if it's better—but at least easier, you will adopt that." – Bárbara Fernández "The danger is not bad AI. The danger is passive humans." – Sabine VanderLinden "We need to open our minds, be curious and play with it." – Bárbara Fernández "You need to keep learning... because if you don't understand what's behind it, you can't challenge assumptions." – Bárbara Fernández "You cannot design trust. You have to demonstrate it." – Bárbara Fernández "Trust is something very fragile. It takes a lot of time to build and one second to lose." – Bárbara Fernández "If we are predictive, we act before. It means insurance becomes a prevention service." – Bárbara Fernández "When intelligence becomes abundant, presence becomes premium." – Sabine VanderLinden "We really need to find the proper questions and ask difficult questions." – Bárbara Fernández "Machines can simulate emotions, but they don't have feelings—and that's something uniquely human." – Bárbara Fernández ABOUT THE GUEST Bárbara Fernández is Deputy Director of MAPFRE Open Innovation and Head of insur_space, MAPFRE’s insurtech accelerator. She works at the intersection of strategy, innovation, behavioral science, and emerging technology, helping MAPFRE explore how new interaction models, AI assistants, and intelligent agents will reshape business, customer experience, and organizational design. Her work focuses on how companies adapt to structural shifts in artificial intelligence, human-machine collaboration, decision-making systems, and the future of interaction. Through strategic foresight and behavioral science, Bárbara helps leaders understand not only how technology evolves, but how humans adopt, trust, challenge, and collaborate with it. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Carlos Falcón: Rebuilding the Insurance Core for AI, Venture Scouting and the Frontier Firm

Carlos Falcón: Rebuilding the Insurance Core for AI, Venture Scouting and the Frontier Firm Insurance does not have an innovation shortage. It has an absorption problem. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Carlos Cendra Falcón, Scouting and Investment Lead at MAPFRE Open Innovation, to explore one of the most pressing questions facing insurers today: can the core of the institution actually absorb the intelligence, ventures, platforms and partnerships being scouted around the world? Carlos brings a pragmatic perspective from inside one of the world's leading insurance groups. Having helped evaluate more than 2,500 startups and accelerate around forty into enterprise integration, he understands that innovation is not about finding exciting technology—it's about identifying capabilities that solve meaningful business problems and can be embedded into a complex global insurer. As AI reshapes discovery, distribution, underwriting, and customer interaction, insurers face a deeper transformation than digitalization alone can provide. Hybrid distribution models, machine-to-machine commerce, embedded insurance, and intelligent agents are changing how insurance is bought, sold, and delivered. Success will depend less on adding new technologies and more on rebuilding the organizational foundations that allow innovation to scale. This conversation is essential listening for CEOs, COOs, Chief Innovation Officers, venture leaders, product executives and insurance decision-makers navigating the shift from digital experimentation to AI-enabled enterprise transformation. KEY TAKEAWAYS Innovation is no longer the constraint facing insurance. The real challenge is whether our organizations are capable of absorbing innovation in a way that creates lasting value. Carlos reminded me that partnerships alone cannot transform an insurer if the underlying organization lacks the architecture, governance, and operating model needed to integrate them. Before looking outward for the next breakthrough, leaders need to strengthen the institutional core that will allow innovation to scale. I was particularly struck by Carlos' reframing of venture scouting. Rather than acting as a matchmaking exercise between startups and business units, scouting should become a strategic intelligence capability. Its purpose is to detect meaningful market signals, understand emerging technologies, and identify solutions that directly address strategic priorities. The question is never whether a startup is impressive; it is whether it is genuinely useful to the institution and capable of improving the business in measurable ways. Our discussion also reinforced how AI is fundamentally changing the insurance value chain. As customers increasingly rely on AI assistants and autonomous agents to search for, compare, and purchase products, insurers must prepare for a world in which machines—not people—interact with their systems. Discoverability, machine-readable products, and seamless digital connectivity will become as important as customer experience itself. Ultimately, Carlos challenged us to think beyond digitization. The frontier insurer will not simply modernize existing processes—it will redesign itself around risk intelligence, ecosystem collaboration and adaptive execution, while remaining anchored to insurance's enduring purpose: helping people navigate the risks that shape their lives. BEST MOMENTS "You cannot partner your way out of a weak core." – Sabine VanderLinden (00:01:10) "Some initiatives are truly transformational, and some are simply a consequence of FOMO. You want to stay close to what's happening without necessarily bringing it into the business." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:03:32) "Sometimes the best-in-class solution isn't the best fit for your organization." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:15:23) "Scouting is not provider matchmaking. It's a strategic approach to solving business problems." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:17:08) "You need to tackle one of the lines in your P&L or your balance sheet. Otherwise, you're just there to look nice in the picture." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:16:28) "Machines don't care how pretty your website is." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:20:50) "You need to have the information available, well structured, and you need to be able to talk to the machine." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:21:00) "The question is never whether a startup is interesting. It is whether it is institutionally useful." – Sabine VanderLinden (00:24:42) "We are here to help people navigate the risks they're facing in their lives, with their property, their health and their way of life." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:22:18) "First understand what an insurance company should look like in 2035, then design the roadmap that gets you there." – Carlos Cendra Falcón (00:23:32) ABOUT THE GUEST Carlos Cendra Falcón is Scouting and Investment Lead at MAPFRE Open Innovation, where he works at the intersection of insurance transformation, venture ecosystems, and corporate strategy. His role focuses on identifying the startups, technologies, and ecosystem partners that can help MAPFRE respond to new risks, new business models, operational challenges, and changing customer behaviors. Carlos’s work is grounded in the practical realities of transforming a large, global insurer. He focuses on detecting early signals across AI, embedded insurance, human–machine interaction, real-time risk intelligence, and preventative insurance, translating market signals into strategic partnerships and investment opportunities that help incumbents move beyond experimentation. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Reggie Townsend: Making Responsible AI Irresistible

Reggie Townsend: Making Responsible AI Irresistible Responsible AI has a design problem. Too often, it is treated as a compliance exercise, a policy document, or a late-stage control, when it should be the operating system that enables organizations to innovate with confidence. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden welcomes back Reggie Townsend, Vice President of AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact at SAS, to explore one compelling idea: making responsible AI irresistible. Drawing on decades of experience helping enterprises embed trustworthy AI into their operations, Reggie explains why governance must evolve from abstract principles to practical systems people actually use. As organizations race to deploy generative and agentic AI, the conversation has shifted. Responsible AI is no longer just about avoiding harm—it is about creating the conditions for innovation, resilience, and long-term competitive advantage. Boards are asking tougher questions. Regulators are raising expectations. Employees increasingly need guidance they can apply in real-world decisions, not just policies they acknowledge once a year. This conversation is essential listening for CEOs, board directors, Chief Risk Officers, compliance leaders, AI product teams, and founders navigating the transition from responsible AI intentions to responsible AI execution. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the biggest insights I took from this conversation is that responsible AI is fundamentally a design challenge. We have spent years writing principles and policies, yet many organizations still struggle to translate those aspirations into everyday decisions. Reggie reminded me that if governance feels complicated, disconnected, or burdensome, people will naturally work around it. Our challenge as leaders is to make responsible behavior the easiest path rather than the hardest one. I was also struck by how governance is becoming inseparable from business strategy. As generative and agentic AI systems begin making increasingly autonomous decisions, governance can no longer be treated as a legal or compliance function operating at the edge of the organization. It has to become part of product design, procurement, operations, and executive decision-making. Trust is no longer something we communicate after deployment; it is something we engineer from the beginning. Another important theme was the preservation of human agency. While AI can dramatically enhance productivity and decision-making, Reggie reminds us that organizations must remain intentional about where humans stay accountable. The future is unlikely to be defined by replacing people with AI, but by designing systems where humans and intelligent machines complement one another in transparent and meaningful ways. However, perhaps my greatest takeaway is that responsible AI should become a competitive advantage rather than a regulatory obligation. Organizations that embed governance in their innovation will move with greater confidence because customers, regulators, employees, and investors will increasingly reward trust. Making responsible AI irresistible is ultimately about making good governance so practical, intuitive and valuable that people actively choose to adopt it—and that may prove to be one of the most important leadership capabilities of the next decade. BEST MOMENTS "Responsible AI isn't about slowing innovation. It's about creating the confidence to innovate at scale." – Reggie Townsend "If responsible AI feels like extra work, we've designed it wrong. We have to make it irresistible." – Reggie Townsend "Governance shouldn't be something you visit once a year. It should be embedded into every decision, every workflow, and every system we build." – Reggie Townsend "The question isn't whether AI will make decisions. It's whether we've designed those decisions to preserve human agency." – Reggie Townsend "Trust isn't something you add after deployment. It's something you architect from the very beginning." – Reggie Townsend "We're moving from governing models to governing systems of intelligence—and that's an entirely different challenge." – Reggie Townsend "The organizations that thrive won't be the ones that adopt AI the fastest. They'll be the ones that build trust the fastest." – Reggie Townsend "Responsible AI is no longer just an ethics conversation. It's becoming a leadership conversation, an operational conversation, and ultimately a competitive advantage." – Sabine VanderLinden "As AI becomes more autonomous, our responsibility as leaders becomes even more intentional." – Sabine VanderLinden "The future belongs to organizations that can turn responsible AI from a policy into a practice." – Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUEST Reggie Townsend is Vice President of AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact at SAS, where he leads SAS’ global AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact organization. His remit includes the company’s Data & AI Ethics Practice, AI & Society initiatives, AI Governance Advisory, Standards, Regulations & Risk Intelligence programs, and Accessible & Adaptive AI efforts. He drives SAS’ work on trustworthy, human-centric innovation across products, policies, and partnerships. Reggie is recognized as one of the clearest voices in responsible and trustworthy AI. He has served as a member of the White House National AI Advisory Committee, sits on the board of EqualAI, and works at the intersection of responsible innovation, enterprise governance, social impact, and emerging AI regulation. In this conversation, he explores how organizations can turn AI governance from a source of friction into a driver of adoption, accountability, and growth. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Dale Diamond: When a $25K Claim Becomes a $7M Verdict or More

Dale Diamond: When a $25K Claim Becomes a $7M Verdict or More A small claim is no longer a small claim. It can be the first signal of a verdict that changes everything. Dale Diamond, J.D., Vice President of Claims at NAMICO, joins Sabine VanderLinden to unpack one of the most urgent realities facing mutual insurers today: nuclear verdicts are not random events. They are often predictable. And if they are predictable, they can be prevented. With more than 30 years of experience across appellate law, bad-faith defense, complex professional liability claims, underwriting, and claims leadership, Dale brings a rare three-dimensional view of what is changing within US insurance. He has seen the courtroom. He has seen the underwriting file. He has seen the claim review where one missed signal can turn a $25,000 auto liability claim into a $7 million jury verdict. The uncomfortable truth? The old claims playbook was built for a world that no longer exists. This conversation is for mutual insurance CEOs, claims leaders, underwriters, reinsurers, and transformation executives navigating social inflation, plaintiff sophistication, AI-enabled litigation, climate volatility, and the new protection gap. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of my biggest takeaways from this conversation is that claims are no longer simply an operational function; they have become one of the most important strategic differentiators in insurance. Dale made it clear that the difference between a well-managed claim and a nuclear verdict often comes down to the decisions made in the first few months. Early collaboration, honest assessment, and having the courage to settle the right cases before positions harden can dramatically change outcomes. I was also fascinated by how artificial intelligence is reshaping both sides of litigation. While insurers are embracing AI to analyze documents, accelerate investigations, and support claims professionals, plaintiff firms are using the same technologies to generate stronger complaints, organize evidence faster, and pursue increasingly sophisticated litigation strategies. AI isn't creating the problem—it is accelerating it for everyone. Another insight that stayed with me is the importance of trust. Whether we are talking about policyholders, mutual insurers, or regulators, insurance remains a promise business. Technology should never replace empathy or transparency. Instead, it should free experienced claims professionals to focus on judgment, negotiation, and building stronger customer relationships. Finally, Dale reinforced something I believe will define the future of insurance leadership: the best organizations won't simply automate existing processes. They'll redesign work around people. As routine activities become increasingly automated, the most valuable professionals will be those who combine technical expertise with communication skills, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence. That combination will become one of the industry's greatest competitive advantages. BEST MOMENTS "Insurance wasn't my first career choice… I always thought I'd be much more useful before all the problems happened, to prevent them rather than defend them afterwards." – Dale Diamond "All the departments have to work together. If one gear breaks, the whole machine stops working." – Dale Diamond "You don't just want to sell all the business you can—you want to make sure it's profitable business." – Dale Diamond "Claims today are about much more than processing files. They're about protecting the customer, protecting the insurer, and making strategic decisions early." – Sabine VanderLinden "The most dangerous cases are the ones with clear liability but disputed damages." – Dale Diamond "Insurance is selling a promise." – Dale Diamond "Technology should augment human judgment—not replace it." – Sabine VanderLinden "As AI takes away the routine work, claims professionals will spend more time making decisions, building relationships and analysing complex situations." – Dale Diamond ABOUT THE GUEST Dale Diamond, J.D., is Vice President of Claims at NAMICO, the insurance arm of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. With more than three decades of experience across appellate law, insurance coverage, bad-faith defense, professional liability, EPLI and D&O underwriting, and complex claims leadership, Dale brings a deeply cross-functional perspective to the challenges facing mutual insurers. His work focuses on helping NAMIC members navigate nuclear verdicts, social inflation, bad-faith exposure, litigation funding, claims modernization, and the operational realities of defending mutual carriers in a more volatile claims environment. In this conversation, Dale helps decode the new survival playbook for mutual insurers in 2026: earlier intervention, better data, stronger talent, verified property intelligence, and sharper leadership discipline. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Willem Paling: From Messy Middles to Autonomous Agents and the Race for Trust at Scale

Willem Paling: From Messy Middles to Autonomous Agents and the Race for Trust at Scale While the insurance sector has long flirted with artificial intelligence, a vast majority of firms find themselves paralyzed in perpetual pilot phases. In this installment of Scouting for Growth, I sit down with Willem Paling, Executive Manager of AI and Analytics at IAG, to decode the transition from mere experimentation to the realization of operational AI at scale. Reflecting on IAG’s aggressive deployment—launching more models in the past year than in the previous six years combined—Willem highlights that success in insurance will be anchored in trust architecture and governance rather than in model complexity alone. We unpack the friction of deploying in a regulated environment, moving beyond the "messy middle" of claims workflows toward a future of autonomous agents that enhance decision-making while ensuring human accountability remains paramount. Our dialogue ventures into the frontiers of agentic commerce, machine-readable products, and the looming challenges of AI-driven fraud. As we look toward 2030, the vision of an AI-native insurer emerges, revealing why the winners will be those who weaponize their data foundations and human-AI collaboration today to dominate the industry's next era. Key Takeaways What stood out to me most from my conversation with Willem is that the AI race in insurance is no longer about access to models. Frontier models are becoming increasingly available to everyone. The real differentiator is the ability to operationalize AI safely, consistently, and at scale. Trust architecture, governance, monitoring, explainability, and human oversight are becoming strategic assets rather than compliance requirements. I was particularly struck by Willem’s observation that the industry must stop treating AI as a series of experiments and start treating it as a core operating capability. The organizations creating value today are those that have embedded AI into business workflows, assigned clear ownership, and built repeatable deployment mechanisms that move beyond proof-of-concept thinking. Another important lesson is that the greatest near-term value lies in the “messy middle” of insurance operations. By automating document-heavy, repetitive, and semi-structured tasks, AI can free highly skilled professionals to focus on judgment, customer relationships, negotiation, and exception handling—the areas where human expertise remains essential. Our discussion also reinforced how dramatically the distribution of products may change as AI agents increasingly influence product discovery and purchasing decisions. Insurers must prepare for a world in which products must be machine-readable, API-enabled, and easily consumable by AI systems, not just by human buyers. Finally, Willem highlighted an often-overlooked challenge: AI is not only helping insurers but also empowering bad actors. AI-generated fraud, synthetic identities, deepfakes, and manipulated evidence will require stronger trust mechanisms, verification systems, and provenance controls. The insurers that thrive by 2030 will be those that invest today in trustworthy AI foundations while redesigning their organizations around human-AI collaboration. Best Moments “This is what the messy middle actually looks like. Not the hype, not the holdouts—the insurer that stopped experimenting and started shipping.” – Sabine VanderLinden “We stopped doing experiments, and we focused on delivery.” – Willem Paling “The frontier is no longer just model capability. It’s whether you can industrialize AI with trust.” – Willem Paling “Trust architecture isn’t separate from value creation. Trust is what turns AI from an impressive model into something that improves insurance at scale.” – Willem Paling “We’re talking about expert judgment, decision-making, critical thinking, and empathy.” – Sabine VanderLinden “The goal is not to preserve every task in the old role. It’s to preserve and elevate the expertise inside the role.” – Willem Paling “The most underestimated risk is AI on the other side—AI attacking the evidence layer of insurance.” – Willem Paling “The winning insurer in 2030 will be AI-native in how it operates, not just AI-enabled in a few functions.” – Willem Paling “The companies who win the agentic frontier aren’t the ones with the biggest models. They are the ones who earn autonomy instead of declaring it.” – Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUEST Willem Paling is the Executive Manager of AI and Analytics at IAG, Insurance Australia Group, Australia’s largest general insurer, operating brands including NRMA Insurance, CGU, WFI, and Swann Insurance. He leads the strategy and industrialization of AI across the organization, including production-grade systems in claims, underwriting, customer service, responsible AI governance, and human-AI teaming. His work focuses on moving AI from experimentation into trusted execution. Willem has helped shape IAG’s responsible AI commitments, supported the Australian Responsible AI Index, and contributed to the AI 2030 Horizons perspective following the ITC 2025 executive summit. His mission connects frontier capability with the governance, explainability, and operating discipline required to deploy AI safely in an industry built on customer promises. Read the latest report: The State of AI in Insurance ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Patrick Van Deven: The Frontier Firm's Moat isn't Data. It's The Layer that Governs It.

Patrick Van Deven: The Frontier Firm's moat isn't data — it's the layer that governs it. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Patrick Van Deven to unpack one of the biggest hidden blockers to becoming a true AI-native enterprise: legacy data infrastructure. As organizations rush toward the “Frontier Firm” vision championed by Microsoft — intelligence on tap, human-agent collaboration, and AI-powered workflows — Patrick argues that most regulated industries are still running on fragmented data pipelines built decades ago. Beneath the excitement around agentic AI lies a critical operational reality: data remains horizontally distributed across systems such as SAP, Salesforce, Guidewire, and legacy warehouses, stitched together by opaque code that no one fully understands anymore. Patrick explains why the future of AI in regulated industries depends less on flashy copilots and more on deterministic, governed, audit-ready data transformation. Drawing from his 35 years in enterprise software and his leadership at Volspeed, he outlines how AI is now reshaping data engineering itself — automating the “plumbing” layer while generating the metadata and lineage AI systems need to operate responsibly. Together, Sabine and Patrick explore why re-architecting does not require a dangerous core system replacement, how organizations can solve tractable business problems in months rather than years, and why the next generation of enterprise leaders must bridge business expertise and data intelligence. This conversation is a practical roadmap for any executive navigating AI transformation inside complex, regulated environments. KEY TAKEAWAYS What stood out most to me in this conversation with Patrick was the reality that the “Frontier Firm” conversation is no longer about experimentation. It is about operational readiness. Every organization I speak to wants intelligence on tap, agentic workflows, and AI-enabled productivity, yet many are still constrained by fragmented legacy systems and undocumented data logic buried deep inside their infrastructure. Patrick made it very clear: if we do not solve the data foundation problem, we simply accelerate complexity and risk. One insight that resonated deeply was the idea that data engineering is entering the same transformation that software engineering experienced with generative AI. The real opportunity is not just automation, but abstraction — enabling smaller teams to solve historically impossible integration problems while creating governed, machine-readable metadata that AI systems can actually trust and consume responsibly. I was also struck by Patrick’s perspective on talent. Rather than replacing expertise, AI elevates the importance of subject matter experts who understand the business context behind the data. The future belongs to professionals who can bridge operational understanding with technical fluency and collaborate effectively with AI-enabled systems. Most importantly, this conversation reinforced that becoming a Frontier Firm does not require ripping out every core system overnight. The no-regret move is to start solving tractable, high-value data problems now — especially those tied to governance, lineage, regulatory reporting, and customer intelligence. Organizations that modernize their deterministic data layer today will be the ones capable of building scalable, trustworthy AI tomorrow. BEST MOMENTS “You can bolt all the AI you want on top of that. It will not make you a frontier firm. It will just make your regulatory problems arrive faster.” — Sabine VanderLinden “AI is coming to data engineering just like it came to software engineering.” — Patrick Van Deven “The board looks at AI at the end of the value chain of data. But how did that data come to be?” — Patrick Van Deven “There is no world where a company would run on one system.” — Patrick Van Deven “Treat the AI agent like an employee. Onboard it, brief it, give it a personality.” — Sabine VanderLinden “The dragon in the basement has finally reached the boardroom.” — Patrick Van Deven “No data lineage. No agent bosses. No governed transformation. No intelligence on tap.” — Sabine VanderLinden “This is a new era for subject matter experts.” — Patrick Van Deven ABOUT THE GUEST Patrick Van Deven is the CEO of Vaultspeed and a veteran enterprise software leader with more than 35 years of experience in software engineering, predictive analytics, data infrastructure, and venture investing. Patrick began his career as a software engineer, building and selling his first commercial application at just 22 years old. He later spent 15 years at SAS Institute, where he helped build data and predictive analytics applications for enterprise environments. He then transitioned into venture capital as an Operating Partner and General Partner at Fortino Capital, investing in software and AI startups across Europe. In 2025, Patrick stepped back into an operational leadership role as CEO of Vaultspeed, driven by his belief that automating deterministic, governed data transformation is one of the most critical “no-regret moves” organizations can make in the age of AI. Today, Vaultspeed works with major global enterprises, including organizations operating across highly regulated industries such as insurance, banking, and financial services. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Brad Wetherall: AI Search, Agentic AI, and How Corporations Must Adapt to Digital Discovery

Brad Wetherall: AI Search, Agentic AI, and How Corporations Must Adapt to Digital Discovery In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden is joined by Brad Wetherall, former Director of Operations at Google and current COO of Esquire Digital, to unpack the transformative impact of AI on search engines and digital visibility. The conversation explores how search is moving beyond traditional search engine optimization (SEO) to an era where AI agents, neural networks, and zero-click searches are redefining how brands are discovered, trusted, and chosen online. Brad Wetherall outlines the emergence of "agentic AI" and the rise of the "frontier firm," where human expertise and AI collaborate to generate both authority and visibility in this new digital ecosystem. This episode offers actionable strategies for corporations, regulated industries, and innovators aiming to future-proof their digital presence and leverage the next chapter of AI-led search. KEY TAKEAWAYS The traditional SEO playbook is now outdated. The critical question is no longer “How do I rank number one on Google?” but “What does AI say about my company?” AI-generated summaries and answer engines sit at the top of results, often preventing users from ever clicking on links. To succeed, businesses—especially in highly regulated industries—must ensure their information is not just human-readable but also machine-readable, authoritative, and genuinely original. Websites should be built with both humans and AI in mind, making content easily digestible for AI agents. Content creation has become an interplay of art and science: AI values unique human perspective, expertise, and experience—simply generating generic, regurgitated answers will not suffice and may even have negative consequences, as Google’s recent algorithm updates penalize unoriginal, AI-generated spam. Building trust, authority, and relevance is now an ongoing process. It’s essential to invest in structured content, active reputation management, robust Google Business profiles, and credible third-party validation through PR. AI agents are becoming the intermediaries of trust, filtering which brands and content make it into these AI overviews. Organizations must become agent bosses, orchestrating both human and machine intelligence, and focusing on verifiable outcomes, not just website traffic. The early adopters who build their authority and distinct voice now will lead in this new landscape and avoid the scramble of playing catch-up. BEST MOMENTS "The question is no longer how do I rank, but rather, what does AI say about my company?" — Sabine VanderLinden "AI is fundamentally changing the rules of digital discovery. We're seeing a once-in-a-generation shift equivalent to the disruption caused by the Internet itself." — Brad Wetherall "There is no easy button. There’s no shortcut. It’s not just about buying backlinks anymore—AI search requires a different blueprint." — Brad Wetherall "AI wants to know who you are. The authoritativeness and trust in your company or as an individual now matter more than ever." — Brad Wetherall "Clicks were always a flawed metric. Now, what matters is how many customers you get—not just traffic but outcome." — Brad Wetherall "The companies that do this well—who invest in website optimization, unique content, reputation, and public relations—will win the race. It’s hard work, but it’s how you’ll stand out in an AI-driven world." — Brad Wetherall ABOUT THE GUEST Brad Wetherall is the Chief Operating Officer at Esquire Digital and the best-selling author of AI and the Future of Search. He spent over a decade at Google, leading operations and shaping products like Google Business Profile, Google Shopping, Google Wallet, and Google Domains—helping over 100 million businesses to be discovered online. Now at Esquire Digital, Brad applies his deep expertise to help companies adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of AI-driven search and digital visibility. His work focuses on demystifying the complex world of AI search and equipping organizations with the tools and strategies they need to remain competitive and authoritative as the digital economy transforms. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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The App Era Is Over: Wallet-Native Insurance & the Agentic Frontier — Marc Lampe × Ernesto Suarez Talk Collaboration

The App Era Is Over: Wallet-Native Insurance & the Agentic Frontier — Marc Lampe × Ernesto Suarez Talk Collaboration In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Ernesto Suarez and Marc Lampe to explore why the future of insurance is moving beyond apps and into wallet-native, AI-ready experiences. The conversation begins with a powerful reminder of why customer experience matters: a traveler stranded abroad, unable to prove they had insurance in an emergency. From there, the discussion unpacks the hidden friction embedded across the insurance journey — especially in claims, servicing, and customer engagement. Ernesto shares how Gigasure was designed as a digital-native travel MGA focused on mobile-first engagement, instant gratification, and removing the traditional “handoffs” that frustrate policyholders. Marc explains how Wallet Studio, developed by Miss Moneypenny Technologies after nearly a decade of experimentation, enables insurers to create dynamic wallet-based insurance experiences that sit directly alongside boarding passes, payments, and loyalty cards. Together, they reveal how the partnership rapidly launched over 50,000 digital wallet cards in just a few months, achieving remarkable customer engagement and demonstrating that insurance can become proactive, contextual, and genuinely useful. The episode also dives into parametric claims, embedded insurance, MGA innovation, AI-enabled customer journeys, and why ecosystem collaboration — not disruption alone — is shaping the next era of InsurTech. KEY TAKEAWAYS What struck me most in this conversation is how both Ernesto and Marc are solving an issue the industry has talked about for years but rarely fixed: making insurance truly accessible and useful at the exact moment customers need it most. We often talk about “customer experience” in insurance, yet too many journeys still rely on PDFs buried in inboxes, disconnected claims processes, and handoffs between providers. This discussion showed what happens when founders design around real human behavior instead of legacy systems. I was particularly fascinated by the simplicity and power of wallet-native insurance. Consumers already use wallet technology every day for boarding passes, payments, loyalty cards, and transport tickets. Integrating insurance directly into that ecosystem feels obvious once you see it in action. The results speak volumes: more than 50,000 wallet cards issued within months and exceptionally high customer engagement rates. That tells us customers are ready for insurance experiences that are frictionless, visible, and mobile-first. Another important insight is how the MGA model is evolving. Ernesto highlighted how modern MGAs are increasingly powered by specialist InsurTech enablers rather than trying to build every capability themselves. The future is less about disruption in isolation and more about intelligent collaboration, integration, and speed to market. This partnership demonstrates how insurers, MGAs, and technology providers can create far more value together than separately. Finally, I loved the honesty around AI and the “agentic frontier.” Both guests acknowledged that technology alone is not enough. The real challenge is guiding customers through increasingly complex ecosystems in ways that remain trustworthy, intuitive, and human-centered. The winners in this next phase of insurance innovation will be the companies that combine intelligent automation with seamless customer trust. BEST MOMENTS “The era of the app, as we have known it, is over.” — Marc Lampe “88% said they have trouble finding their documents.” — Ernesto Suarez “Insurance has never been tangible. And I feel like this is a little piece that we can give customers for what they’ve purchased.” — Ernesto Suarez “The solution is not to build the perfect AI-driven functionality, but to deliver that actually to the customer.” — Marc Lampe “We’re all very good at selling, but it’s the post-sale service element that I feel is a big lie.” — Ernesto Suarez “The customer should only have the experience and not struggle.” — Marc Lampe “We are trying to eat away at the friction.” — Ernesto Suarez “Customer experience in insurance can actually be good.” — Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUESTS Ernesto Suarez Ernesto Suarez is the Founder and CEO of Gigasure, a digital-native MGA redefining travel insurance through mobile-first engagement and wallet-native customer experiences. With more than 25 years in the insurance industry, Ernesto previously founded and exited a successful niche insurance venture focused on car hire excess protection. Through Gigasure, he is building a new generation of insurance products designed specifically for millennials and Gen Z consumers, combining embedded services, parametric claims, instant payouts, and app-driven customer servicing. Marc Lampe Marc Lampe is the Co-founder of Miss Moneypenny Technologies, the company behind Wallet Studio, a wallet-native platform enabling insurers to create dynamic digital insurance cards and customer engagement experiences. An entrepreneur since the age of 17, Marc has spent more than a decade developing wallet technology solutions across industries before focusing on insurance. Today, Wallet Studio powers wallet-native experiences for more than 20 insurers and MGAs, helping carriers modernize customer engagement, claims interaction, and embedded insurance journeys. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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David Daiches: Inside INSHUR — From Manhattan Uber Rides to Insuring Autonomous Fleets

David Daiches: Inside INSHUR — From Manhattan Uber Rides to Insuring Autonomous Fleets In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden speaks with David Daiches, co-founder and COO of Insure, about building insurance solutions for the on-demand economy. The conversation traces Insure’s origins to a simple yet powerful insight: traditional insurance models were not designed for gig workers like Uber drivers, who operate entirely on their smartphones and cannot afford downtime. David explains how Insure addressed this gap by creating flexible, usage-based insurance embedded directly into platform ecosystems. They explore the importance of “fluency over features,” emphasizing that successful insurtechs solve real operational problems rather than just showcasing technology. A central theme is that claims, not policies, define the true value of insurance, leading Insure to bring claims in-house to improve customer experience and data insights. The discussion also looks ahead to emerging challenges, including electric vehicles and autonomous mobility, where insurance must evolve to cover complex ecosystems of software, hardware, and data. Finally, David shares candid lessons on scaling, partnerships, and the growing role of AI, highlighting the need for adaptability, continuous learning, and strong teams in building resilient insurtech businesses. KEY TAKEAWAYS What stands out most is the importance of starting with the problem, not the technology. David and his team didn’t build Insure by showcasing features; they immersed themselves in the daily realities of gig workers and platform operators. That mindset shaped everything, from product design to partnerships. It reinforces my belief that fluency in a partner’s business model is far more valuable than any standalone innovation. Another key insight is how insurance must adapt to changing customer behaviors. The on-demand economy is no longer a niche; it supports millions of people. Traditional annual policies simply do not fit this model. By aligning insurance coverage with actual usage, Insure has shown how to close protection gaps while improving affordability and access. What resonated deeply with me is the idea that claims are the product. Customers only truly experience insurance when something goes wrong. Investing in claims operations, empathy, and responsiveness is therefore not optional; it is the core value proposition. I was also struck by the operational lessons. Scaling too quickly, hiring without enough rigor, and taking partnerships for granted are common pitfalls. Building a strong, empowered team and maintaining close alignment with partners is essential for long-term success. Finally, the future of mobility and insurance will require entirely new thinking. Autonomous vehicles, AI, and data-driven ecosystems are reshaping risk. The winners will be those who can navigate this complexity while staying grounded in customer needs. BEST MOMENTS “Claims is the product. Everything else just gets us to that point.” – David Daiches “We didn’t just sell insurance, we solved problems in the platform’s business model.” – David Daiches “People are not interested in a fancy UI when something goes wrong. They want a product that is there at the moment they need it the most.” – Sabine VanderLinden “Make yourself easy to do business with.” – David Daiches “The best insurtech founders aren’t selling insurance, they are removing friction from someone else’s business model.” – Sabine VanderLinden “If you’re not spending time learning AI now, you risk being left behind.” – David Daiches ABOUT THE GUEST David Daiches is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Inshur, a digital-first managing general agent focused on the on-demand economy. With a background in technology and retail, he entered the insurance industry over 15 years ago and identified significant opportunities for digital transformation. At Inshur, David has led the development of embedded, usage-based insurance solutions for platforms such as Uber, Amazon, and DoorDash. David is particularly focused on innovation in mobility insurance, including the future of autonomous vehicles and AI-driven claims and underwriting. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Alan Martin: Why Insurers Who Invest in Wellness Win — The Healthcare Innovation Playbook still works

Alan Martin: Why Insurers Who Invest in Wellness Win - The Healthcare Innovation Playbook still works In this episode, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Alan Martin, founder of Resilient Risk and Health Solutions, to challenge the fundamentals of life and health insurance. The conversation highlights a growing disconnect between insurers, customers, and the health tech ecosystem, and why current “wellness” programs often fail to deliver meaningful outcomes. Alan argues that most insurance products remain transactional, focused on payouts rather than prevention and long-term resilience. He introduces the concept of “modifiable risk,” emphasizing that many health risks are within individual control and should be actively managed through continuous engagement rather than static underwriting. The discussion explores how insurers can evolve from passive payers to active health partners by embedding personalized, digital care pathways and leveraging ecosystem collaboration. The episode also tackles systemic issues such as low customer engagement, outdated service delivery models, and the widening protection gap. Alan and Sabine conclude that meaningful transformation requires bold leadership, dynamic pricing models, and a shift toward service-led propositions that genuinely improve health outcomes while creating sustainable economic value for insurers. KEY TAKEAWAYS What really stood out to me in this conversation is that we are still thinking about insurance in far too narrow a way. We’ve designed products that only show up when something goes wrong, even though the greatest value we can deliver is helping people stay healthy in the first place. If we reposition insurance as a resilience partner rather than just a financial backstop, we unlock a completely different level of relevance for customers, especially younger generations who expect ongoing value, not just a payout. I’m also struck by how many wellness initiatives miss the mark. Too often, we reward those who are already healthy, while the people who truly need support remain disengaged. If we are serious about impact, we need to design for the harder-to-reach segments and build solutions that genuinely change behavior, not just tick a box. Another key insight is the importance of rethinking how services are delivered. Traditional models, such as nurse hotlines, are costly and underutilized. Digital, personalized care pathways offer a way to scale engagement while improving outcomes and reducing costs. Finally, I believe we need to rethink incentives across the entire system. Concepts like dynamic pricing and modifiable risk are not just technical shifts; they fundamentally reshape the relationship between insurer and customer. When combined with stronger ecosystem collaboration, they create a pathway toward a more proactive, impactful, and sustainable insurance model. BEST MOMENTS “It is wellness theater dressed up as risk management.” “The best way of protecting the family is to make sure they don’t pass away.” “Insurance isn’t just a financial product, it should be a product of resilience.” “Diagnosis is not the end point, there is always something you can do to improve health.” “The gap between the insurance we have and the one we need is not a technology problem, it is a courage problem.” “If you want real impact, you have to design for the people who actually need the support.” ABOUT THE GUEST Alan Martin is a Chartered Insurer and the founder of Resilient Risk and Health Solutions, a consultancy that bridges the gap between insurance and the health tech ecosystem. With over 30 years of experience in life and health reinsurance, Alan has held roles spanning underwriting, claims, pricing, and product development. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with insurers, reinsurers, and health innovators to design solutions that improve health outcomes while delivering sustainable business value. He is particularly known for his work on modifiable risk strategies, helping insurers rethink how they engage with policyholders and manage long-term health risks. Alan brings a rare combination of deep technical insurance expertise and a strong understanding of healthcare and emerging technologies, positioning him at the forefront of the shift from traditional insurance models toward prevention-led, customer-centric propositions. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Xavier Lestrade: From Insurance to Personalized Care Pathways: The New Blueprint for Growth

Xavier Lestrade: From Insurance to Personalized Care Pathways In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden explores the transformation of health insurance from a claims-paying model to a care partnership approach with Xavier Lestrade, Managing Director of AXA Health International within AXA Global Healthcare. The conversation delves into how AXA Global Healthcare is redefining industry standards by transitioning from traditional insurance products to an integrated membership model focused on prevention, personalization, and digital engagement. Together, they discuss the operational, regulatory, and technological complexities of building all-in-one health platforms and the broader mission of combating medical inflation while making quality healthcare accessible globally. This episode offers an inside look into what it takes for a leading insurer to become indispensable to its members, not just reactive in times of crisis. KEY TAKEAWAYS The future of health insurance is defined by proactive support rather than reactive compensation. The shift Xavier and I discussed is not merely technological; it’s cultural and strategic, centered on creating integrated, member-centric experiences that anticipate needs. I learned that true differentiation in this space hinges on our ability to orchestrate seamless journeys by combining wellness, prevention, payments, and claims into a cohesive platform. The greatest challenge, according to Xavier Lestrade, is bridging regulatory regimes across payments, insurance, and healthcare, which demands expertise beyond traditional insurance boundaries. Moving forward, he sees the largest value in member experience and sustainable healthcare access, not just improved retention or cost control. I was struck by the ambition to leverage AI and ecosystem partnerships, blending human and machine expertise to be not just insurers, but trusted medical concierges for globally mobile members. Ultimately, the discussion reinforced my belief that becoming a care partner is about operational courage, relentless execution, and an unyielding commitment to making health protection truly indispensable, even when no claim is made. BEST MOMENTS “What happens when an insurer stops talking about becoming a care partner and actually starts building like one?” — Sabine VanderLinden “We are kind of the private banking of health insurance. Our members...are expatriates, diplomats, wealthy people, individuals willing to access and navigate the best of healthcare in the world.” — Xavier Lestrade “Bringing this all-in-one app, building bridges between wellness and prevention, virtual healthcare, and insurance into one app, helping us orchestrate the patient journeys of our members.” — Xavier Lestrade “The dream we have is to position ourselves in the eyes of our members as their medical concierge…the person they come to when they’ve got questions regarding preventative healthcare.” — Xavier Lestrade “The most powerful insurance isn’t the policy that pays the claim—it is the partnership that prevents it in the first place.” — Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUEST Xavier Lestrade is the Managing Director of AXA Health International within AXA Global Healthcare. With over 31 years at AXA and extensive international leadership experience, he has been at the forefront of transforming health insurance into a proactive, data-driven, and member-centered service. Xavier Lestrade leads a global business serving mobile individuals and organizations in 200 countries, focusing on integrating wellness, prevention, and streamlined healthcare journeys to position AXA as a global leader in forward-thinking health solutions. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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From Org Charts to Work Charts: What the MIT Frontier Firm Paper Means for Insurance, Finance & Risk

From Org Charts to Work Charts: What the MIT Frontier Firm Paper Means for Insurance, Finance & Risk In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden explores a 2026 research paper from MIT CISR on how business models are evolving in the age of agentic AI. Drawing on longitudinal data from nearly 2,400 companies, the research highlights a major shift from traditional digital business models toward AI-driven ones. Sabine explains how earlier models, such as supplier, omnichannel, modular producer, and ecosystem driver, have now evolved into four new archetypes: existing plus, customer proxy, modular creator, and orchestrator. She emphasizes that most financial institutions and insurers remain stuck in incremental “existing plus” adaptations, while the real competitive advantage lies in becoming orchestrators that dynamically coordinate ecosystems to deliver customer outcomes. Using her “frontier insurer matrix,” Sabine illustrates how firms can move from rigid, process-driven structures to adaptive, AI-enabled ecosystems. The episode also examines the implications for finance and risk management, highlighting the importance of real-time decision-making, AI governance, and human-AI collaboration. Sabine concludes with five practical imperatives for leaders, stressing that this transformation is not just about adopting AI, but fundamentally rethinking how value is created, delivered, and captured in a rapidly changing landscape. KEY TAKEAWAYS What stood out to me most from the MIT CISR research is that we are not simply witnessing a technology shift. We are seeing a fundamental redesign of business models. Too many organizations are still treating AI as an incremental improvement when, in reality, the opportunity lies in rethinking how value is created and delivered. Moving from “existing plus” to orchestrator requires a mindset shift as much as a technical one. I also see a clear gap between where most insurers and financial institutions operate today and where they need to be. Legacy systems, rigid processes, and siloed structures limit their ability to scale and respond dynamically. The firms that will lead are those that embrace modularity, ecosystem thinking, and API-first architectures, allowing AI agents to operate at speed and scale. Another critical insight is the evolving role of humans. AI can handle routine processes, but trust, empathy, and judgment remain uniquely human strengths. Designing the right human-to-agent ratio for each task will be essential, particularly in high-stakes scenarios. Finally, governance becomes a design challenge rather than just a control function. Risk leaders must define guardrails upfront, shaping how AI operates rather than reacting to its outputs. This is a shift from oversight to architecture. Ultimately, the organizations that succeed will be those that ask not how to use AI, but what new value they can create for customers because of it. BEST MOMENTS “This is not a technology gap, it is a business model gap.” “Scale your ecosystem or get out, or you will be competed by someone who does.” “The frontier insurer doesn’t just pay the claim, it prevents the loss and manages the recovery.” “Risk management has to move upstream from auditor to architect.” “This is not a technology story, this is a purpose story.” “The real question is not how do we add AI, but what can we now do that was impossible before?” ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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The Risk Intelligence Gap: How Exposure Data Deficiency Is Reshaping Property Underwriting

The Risk Intelligence Gap: How Exposure Data Deficiency Is Reshaping Property Underwriting In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden is joined by Anthony Peake, CEO of Intelligent AI, to dissect the "Risk Intelligence Gap" reshaping the property insurance landscape. We are both dissecting the recent white paper Anthony commissioned during Q1 2026. With 93% of UK and 90% of US commercial properties insured for the wrong amount, the discussion reveals why the industry’s vast data resources fail to reach underwriters in a form that is both actionable and trustworthy. Sabine VanderLinden and Anthony Peake delve into their co-authored research, examining the architectural, integration, and trust challenges at the heart of this crisis and exploring how API-first, verifiable risk intelligence is redefining underwriting. The episode is packed with real-world examples and actionable insights into how the property underwriting process must evolve from reactive data chasing to predictive, cognitive risk management. KEY TAKEAWAYS The scale of the risk intelligence gap in commercial property underwriting today is both alarming and transformative. We’re not suffering from a lack of data; instead, we’re hindered by fragmented architectures, poor integration, and a deep-rooted trust problem that leaves underwriters rating their data confidence at just three to five out of ten at the critical point of decision. This results in billions in unrecognized exposure and inefficient operational drag, with underwriters losing up to 55% of their day to tedious data gathering instead of strategic decision-making. Our findings underscore that technology alone is not the cure. While AI decision engines and sophisticated catastrophe models abound, their potential is constrained by the quality of the data that feeds them. The true opportunity is to build verified, explainable, and decision-grade risk intelligence, delivered directly into workflows through uniform APIs. The advent of digital twins for properties and real-time data integration equips underwriters with a 360-degree risk view, trimming inefficiencies, mitigating underinsurance, and creating a platform for predictive and preventive underwriting. Trust and explainability remain essential: underwriters will not act on data they cannot understand or audit—and they shouldn’t have to. Only those insurers who move decisively from asserted to verified data, and from periodic snapshots to continuous monitoring, will achieve sustainable underwriting profit and own the best risk. The time to tackle this structural data problem is now. BEST MOMENTS "This is better engines running on worse fuel." — Sabine VanderLinden "The client pays for being underinsured—until regulators say the insurer must take responsibility." — Anthony Peake "We can create a model of all the data a risk engineer might manually collect—but do it very quickly and accurately." — Anthony Peake "People are making not million-dollar decisions, but billion-dollar decisions on thousand-dollar data." — Sabine VanderLinden "The real question isn't whether data matters. The question is who will move first from asserted data to verified intelligence, from reactive pricing to predictive underwriting." — Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUEST Anthony Peake is CEO of Intelligent AI, a pioneering property risk intelligence platform dedicated to real-time, API-first delivery of structured, verifiable property data for insurers, reinsurers, brokers, and MGAs. With over three decades of experience leading projects at global enterprises such as Apple, GE, BT, and Oracle, Anthony Peake has deep expertise in large-scale data architecture and risk system implementation, including for six of the top ten UK insurers. Through his leadership and collaboration with institutions such as Lloyd’s Lab, Anthony Peake drives innovation that bridges the gap between raw data and actionable underwriting insights, supporting both the UK and US markets in their transition toward predictive, cognitive insurance infrastructure. Download The Risk Intelligence Gap white paper. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist-turned-entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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Trust Is the Operating System of the Agentic Enterprise

Trust Is the Operating System of the Agentic Enterprise In this episode, Sabine VanderLinden is joined by Franklin Manchester, Global Insurance Strategic Advisor at SAS, and Steven Abel, Global Technology Partner and Deputy Global Head of AI & Transformation at Oliver Wyman. Together, they unpack the concept of "trust by design" in the context of agentic enterprises and AI adoption. The conversation pivots from traditional risk frameworks and compliance-based approaches to trust to the urgent need for architectural and cultural transformations in which trust is embedded in every system and decision. They explore why organizations often confuse expanding AI tools with genuine readiness for autonomy, discuss why "human in the loop" is no longer sufficient, and offer perspectives on scaling trust, managing risk, and redefining organizational roles. The trio debates actionable leadership moves for CEOs and boards, the evolving skills for insurance professionals, and how the frontier firm of the future will distinguish itself through intentional trust-building—not just AI deployment. KEY TAKEAWAYS Many organizations treat AI trust as a compliance issue, which hinders safe scaling. The fundamental shift involves deploying autonomous decision-makers, making trust-by-design an architectural and leadership mandate. We, as an industry, over-invest in AI models and technology while under-investing in people and trust. Simply using more models or data doesn't guarantee higher trust, especially without architectures built for transparency and governance. Franklin noted a disconnect where insurers use AI but lack trustworthy systems, surprisingly favoring newer generative AI over established machine learning. I question the efficacy of "human in the loop" controls in high-stakes industries, while Steven advocates embedded, infrastructure-level trust solutions. Franklin identified processes as primary failure points, particularly when tacit knowledge is overlooked (citing Cigna's mass claim denials). The discussion explores the need for new AI risk and governance roles, akin to those in past actuarial practice. While human-centricity should drive design, scalability is challenging as organizations move toward agentic systems in which humans supervise, rather than directly control, risking brand integrity if governance fails. For leaders, I urge you to shift focus from technology hype to foundational trust. Steven prioritizes "under the water" capabilities, such as risk and regulatory expertise. Franklin recommends three people-centric actions: embracing new skills, breaking data silos, and protecting the brand. The truly future-ready firm embeds trust into every decision system—a practice rooted in culture, governance, and leadership, not just technology. Scaling AI without trust is merely scaling risk; organizations must engineer trust as a core operating principle. BEST MOMENTS "Trust isn't what you say, it is what your system does." — Sabine VanderLinden "The architecture of these models themselves doesn’t lend itself to a high trust environment." — Steven Abel "We trust generative AI 200% more than machine learning. Which is bonkers to me because machine learning has been around for like 30 years." — Franklin Manchester “There’s still no more sophisticated sensor than a human being and a more powerful computer than the human brain.” — Franklin Manchester “Auditability, transparency, and a connection with the human ecosystem and judgment—these things are non-negotiable.” — Steven Abel "It is clear that the adoption is moving fast, and we need to make sure, within the regulated industry, that we apply trust in everything we do. Otherwise, we are going to shun both customers." — Sabine VanderLinden ABOUT THE GUEST Franklin Manchester Prior to joining SAS, Franklin Manchester served as a Global Insurance Strategic Advisor at SAS Institute, bringing over 20 years of experience in insurance underwriting and analytics. Known for his deep industry insight and passionate advocacy for trustworthy AI, Franklin is currently focused on linking insurance expertise with AI-driven transformation, highlighting the importance of governance, ethical frameworks, and human-centricity in future-ready companies. Steven Abel Global Technology Partner at Oliver Wyman and Deputy Global Head of AI and Transformation, Steven Abel leverages his extensive background in tech innovation and large-scale enterprise change. As a self-proclaimed technology enthusiast, he offers critical perspectives on the infrastructural and professional challenges organizations face in responsibly scaling agentic AI with embedded trust, urging leaders to rethink assumptions and prioritize under-the-surface architectural investments. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist-turned-entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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The Capacity Gap

In this riveting solo episode, Sabine VanderLinden confronts what she calls "the capacity gap"—a silent barrier that undermines organizational success in today's complex business landscape. Rather than blaming common culprits like strategy, leadership, or talent, she reframes the issue as a structural mismatch between ambitious goals and the finite resources available to deliver on them. Drawing from her extensive experience in the insurance sector and referencing compelling case studies from companies like Ping An and Nestlé, Sabine VanderLinden unpacks the math behind the capacity gap and lays out a practical five-step playbook to help leaders bridge it and thrive in the era of AI-driven transformation. Key Takeaways Reflecting on the capacity gap, it becomes clear to me that most organizations are not failing due to weak ideas or a lack of vision, but because they are unable to match their strategic ambitions to their actual capacity to implement them. The sheer pace of technological change, combined with heightened expectations around innovation, puts immense pressure on existing operating models, especially in sectors like insurance. The essential insight I share is that companies will win not by having the grandest vision, but by developing the operational elasticity to close the capacity gap faster than competitors. This requires a rigorous assessment of current delivery abilities, a relentless focus on throughput, leveraging external partners as capacity multipliers, and embedding elasticity into both technology and workforce design. Most crucially, making capacity a leadership and board-level metric shifts the organization from admiring problems to solving them. As I explore in the episode, frontier firms show us what’s possible when capacity is managed as a dynamic asset rather than a limiting factor. The future belongs to those who can execute, not just strategize. Best Moments "What if the single greatest obstacle to your company's future success isn't the competition, a lack of budget, or even the speed of technological change—but a silent thief of momentum that lives in the space between your boardroom's bold vision and your team's daily reality?" "It is not a people problem. It is a math problem, a fundamental mismatch between the infinite demands of strategic ambition and the finite capacity of your organization to execute." "The winners will not be the companies with the most visionary strategies. They will be the companies with the smallest capacity gap." "Frontier firms are not just managing capacity; they are weaponizing it." "Closing the capacity gap is not about asking your teams to work harder. It is about redesigning the work itself." ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist-turned-entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

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